This article presents an analysis of the COVID-19 impact on national budget with implications for beyond COVID-19. The main aim of the article is to unravel the extent to which budget revision in the face of COVID-19 diverges from the budget revision in the year before COVID-19. The article applies a quantitative approach with data drawn from the 2020 revised budget. Using the statistical t-test for difference in means, the results show that the revised budget was positively and significantly different from the previous period's revised budget with a p-value of 0.01 (at one tail test) and with a p-value of 0.02 (at two tail test). Such large differences are indicative of a lack of adequate contingency in national budgets. Going forward, the article recommends a pre-emptive budgeting approach, which would instil a pragmatic integration of sufficient budgeting for health emergencies, and that such funds should be ring-fenced for a